Still, But Running: When Avoidance Wears the Mask of Calm 🫀🏃🏻‍♀️

In soul-stirring connections, we often hear about the runner and chaser.

One pulls away. The other stays.

One avoids the depth. The other holds on.

At least, that’s how I once understood it.

There was a time I believed I had stayed — grounded, still, present.

But years later, I saw what I couldn’t then:

I had been running too.

Not with my body. Not with my words.

But in the quietest way — through subtle resistance, through hope that softened reality, through avoidance that wore the mask of calm.

✨ I wasn’t ready for the truth — that even the deepest, most aligned soul connection doesn’t guarantee compatibility in this human life.

And because I wasn’t ready, I fled inward — gently, invisibly — to protect what was still too tender to touch.

The psyche is wise. It doesn’t drop the full truth on a heart that’s still rebuilding.

So instead, it wrapped me in grace — in longing, in “maybe someday,” in dreams that let me breathe instead of break.

That wasn’t denial. That was kindness.

And maybe you’ve done this too.

Held onto something, not because you were naïve, but because some part of you needed to live the what if before it could let go of the not this.

To imagine how it could’ve been — not to escape truth, but to honour the depth of your care.

🕯 That’s not a flaw. That’s love in motion.

For a long time, I also believed that because I could see others’ patterns clearly — I was somehow further along.

But when the story is your own, seeing isn’t the same as being ready.

There’s a kind of inner permission that takes time to bloom. And when it does… everything changes.

What surprised me most was how easy it is to mistake stillness for presence.

To believe you’re “staying,” when deep down, you’re actually avoiding the very truth that would set you free.

Not every runner moves loudly.

Some of us run with a kind of noble quiet — holding space, but not surrender.

And yet…

When the truth finally landed — that this chapter was complete, no matter how real the bond —

it didn’t destroy me.

Because by then, I was strong enough to hold it with both hands.

Letting go didn’t feel like loss. It felt like peace.

💭 So if you’re here now — still holding on, still wondering, still aching — please remember:

You’re not slow.

You’re not stuck.

You’re not behind.

You let go when it became safe to let go.

You saw the truth when your heart was finally ready to hold it.

This… is your timing.

And it’s perfect.

Give yourself more time.

And give time more time 🕊